In recent years, educators have sought to increase the effectiveness of the education of young children by introducing a recreational aspect to learning. Recent innovations have gone well beyond the relatively simple concepts of generations ago, which included alphabet building blocks and the like.
Modern innovations in this field include such sophisticated and diverse devices as programmed courses on magnetic tape cassettes, narrow theme repeated-message television shows and learning cards.
The present invention relates to puzzles which are particularly adopted to perform an educational function. Unlike conventional puzzles, the inventive puzzles are solved by folding parts of the flat planar element of which the puzzle is made upon one another to form an educational message. Moreover, the puzzles are so made that two messages are displayed on opposite sides of the puzzle at the same time. These two messages may be associated with each other to form a learning pair, which may be, for example, a question and an answer. The construction of the puzzle is such that the puzzle cannot be solved for two messages without displaying the two messages of a learning pair. In this manner, a child using the puzzle learns the relationship between messages in a learning pair. In accordance with the preferred embodiment, a single puzzle may carry four learning pairs or a total of eight messages.
Inasmuch as a puzzle constructed in accordance with the invention is a flat planar element, which may be made of paper or any suitable material, with printing on both sides, it may be sold in kit form as a single sheet of paper with instructions on how to construct it. This provides an added dimension to the puzzle because if a child has made something himself, he is more likely to remain interested in it.